Substantiated Quotes

[holdencm9]

I know we all love quotes, especially the pro-2a variety. However, there is nothing worse than when unsubstantiated quotes are used, only for someone to fact-check it and have it shot out of the sky. Some of these quotes are pretty pervasive and spread like wildfire due to the internet, so it is no wonder people eventually just accept them as real, but they are not. For example,

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass."
--Admiral Yamamoto during WWII

It has been declared this attribution is "unsubstantiated and almost certainly bogus, even though it has been repeated thousands of times in various Internet postings. There is no record of the commander in chief of Japan’s wartime fleet ever saying it.", according to Brooks Jackson in "Misquoting Yamamoto" at Factcheck.org (11 May 2009)

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto

"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
--Thomas Jefferson

We currently have no evidence that Thomas Jefferson said or wrote, "The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it" or any of its listed variations.

http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/beauty-second-amendment-quotation

:banghead:

As such, I'd like to get a thread going, and fill it with substantiated quotes that further our cause, or maybe we just like. What is your favorite pro-2a quote and if possible provide a link that verifies it was actually said by that person. For instance,

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
--Bejamin Franklin

This was written by Franklin, within quotation marks but is generally accepted as his original thought, sometime shortly before February 17, 1775 as part of his notes for a proposition at the Pennsylvania Assembly, as published in Memoirs of the life and writings of Benjamin Franklin (1818).

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

We can argue about context and the underlying meaning of the quotes in another thread, but for now I am just hoping to get a list going, so people can know which quotes are safe to use. If you know of some other popular "quotes" that are definitely false, feel free to post them as well, so people know NOT to use them. Think of it as a snopes for gun quotes.

 

[CmdrSlander]

guncite.com

that is all

 

[bhesler]

This is my favorite, from George Washington's first State of the Union address.

"A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies."

I like the last three words better than the false quote that was going around on the interwebs a couple months ago.

 

[481]

My favorite "safe to use" quote

Amendment II A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

It is right there in the Bill of Rights.

 

[Akita1]

There's a sticky on this somewhere here

 

[Flopsweat]

"Take one more step and you'll find out."

--Flopsweat (ca 1983)

 

[OilyPablo]

There are so many good REAL quotes. No need to make them up, or borrow made up quotes.

 

[hso]

The problem is that we spout made up ones all the time and then look foolish when they're easily debunked as fake.

 

[Nickel Plated]

Far as I'm concerned, who cares who said it or whether they said it at all. Most of these sayings make perfect sense and explain our argument very well. They can stand on their own merits without having some old guy's name under them.

If some quote is idiotic or incorrect, then having George Washington's or Jesus' name under it doesn't really improve it.

 

[holdencm9]

There's a sticky on this somewhere here

Is there? I took a look through GGD and Activism and didn't see anything. Hmm let me know if you know where it is.

guncite.com

that is all

They definitely have a good collection of quotes there, and being the site they are, I would presume all are "safe" to use, but can't verify them all myself, and the secondary point of this thread would be to share examples of fake quotes as well.

The problem is that we spout made up ones all the time and then look foolish when they're easily debunked as fake.

Agreed. It is so embarrassing to be on a message board and see someone use a quote that has been pointed out as false numerous times.

Far as I'm concerned, who cares who said it or whether they said it at all. Most of these sayings make perfect sense and explain our argument very well. They can stand on their own merits without having some old guy's name under them.

If some quote is idiotic or incorrect, then having George Washington's or Jesus' name under it doesn't really improve it.

Agreed, to the second paragraph. Not the first.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...Far as I'm concerned, who cares who said it or whether they said it at all. Most of these sayings make perfect sense and explain our argument very well..

Supposed argument based on slogans or cliches can not ultimately be effective. It must be based on verifiable data.

...They can stand on their own merits without having some old guy's name under them....

Not really. Attributing a quote to someone who has established credibility and stature lends credibility to the quote. People will pay more attention to something George Washington or Jesus said than something Algernon Liptsitz said.

But when it's discovered that George Washington or Jesus actually didn't say it, whoever attributed it looks like, at best, a fool -- and at worst, a liar.